Summer Season Sayonara

A few months have passed since I last took to the keyboard to finishing writing about our summer adventures! A lot has happened since then, but why don't I start by picking up where we left off?

We arrived back to Maple Bay Marina early August after five weeks cruising the Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast, and Desolation Sound. It was an incredible adventure filled with a ton of learning and undoubtedly, memories that will last a lifetime. We got to share our sailing life with new friends and old, my parents, and adjust to the cruising lifestyle with the dogs. It was everything we dreamt it would be and more!

Because of who we are as people, we didn't exactly leave ourselves a few leisurely days to wrap-up loose ends, finish projects, and pack up the boat. Instead, we had 24 hours to get turned around back to Alberta to meet our friends for a three day paddling trip down the Kootenay River. We'll never learn, but ya only live once and we knew the paddling trip would be worth a few hectic days!

On our list prior to heading home was, first and foremost, fixing the water pump on the truck. If we couldn't get that sorted, we weren't going anywhere. After, we wanted to clean and dry our bilge, finish re-sealing the starboard salon window, and empty out our storage locker (saving $75 a month seemed worth the hassle). Like any good boat project, cleaning and drying the bilge required completing the unanticipated task of fixing the pump. After a bit of cussing and bilge water splashing into our faces, we got it sorted and were left with the satisfaction of, for the first time ever, having a boat with a totally dry bilge! Brad managed to get the window re-sealed by unfortunately it cracked completely in half in the process, so it took a bit longer than we hoped. Thankfully it was workable and the crack is located in a pretty subtle spot. Fingers crossed the new seals work and Splash can go into the winter a little bit less leaky than last year!

After emptying our storage locker we loaded all of our extra sails into the truck, pawned off some random bits and bobs to our boat neighbors, and ditched pieces of equipment that are older than me. Our last task was packing all of our things and giving Splash a good clean, and before we knew it we were in the truck and on our way, brand new water pump and all.

Last night on board for 2025